CISPA- making laws for the future

Our government is in a situation where we are trying to catch up to the technology that we currently have. The laws that are being made are looking to the future of what holds for where technology is heading. After speaking with Ralph Russo, an adjunct professor for Homeland Security at Tulane and ex-deputy for Homeland Security to the MTA transit for NYC, I had a chance to ask him what is happening in this world from the perspective of Homeland Security. From what I gathered from our conversation, there needs to be a middle ground that still respects the rights of the public but also puts the government in a position where they can protect us.

CISPA is a unique bill in that it expands the grip of the government on information rights as well as making hacking much more difficult. The CISPA act will allow government agencies to get the username and passwords for use in anti-terrorism and anti-piracy and anti-hacking stings. The flip side to this coin is that whiste-blowing hacktivists will be in a position where they will be at the mercy of the government. Or, at least, potential would-be hacktivists will be thinking twice about exposing the wrong doings of people. Our country is under a façade of liberty, where our rights are being taken away, or rather manipulated through the pen of our policy makers.